Dating Is Murder

by Patti Benning

  “I should have time between breakfast and lunch at the nursing home,” she said. “Do you just want to walk around the park with Frankie like usual?”

  “Yep.”

  Her and Alicia's weekly walks were an important part of Autumn's routine. It was good for both of them to get some exercise and gave them some much needed time outdoors.

  Bonnie returned a couple of minutes later and helped clear the table, and it was time for Autumn to leave soon after that. She said a cheerful goodbye to her friends, promising to invite them both to dinner at the nursing home once Westley Phillips had gotten settled in, whenever that may be.

  CHAPTER THREE

  * * *

  “Don’t worry about the dishes, Autumn,” Emily said after breakfast the next morning. “I'll finish them, I don't mind. I know you mentioned you wanted to get home before lunch.”

  “Are you sure?” Autumn asked. “I don't want to steal you away from your other duties.”

  “Now that I'm officially your assistant, helping you is at the top of my list,” the young woman said. “Besides, you took extra shifts to help me back at the grocery store once in a while. It's only fair.”

  “Well, when you put it that way…” Autumn smiled. “Thanks, Emily. Will you still be here for lunch?”

  “I'll be going home right after lunch, so yes,” Emily said. “Sorry I won't be working the evening shift today. You'll have your hands full.”

  It was true. Ever since the famous writer had moved into the nursing home, the residents had been having guests over for almost every meal. Autumn hoped that all of the hubbub would die down soon. Making dinner for thirty people was hard enough. If half of them had a guest, that made it even more difficult since Autumn had to do her own math to figure out the right changes for all of the recipes.

  She made a quick detour home to change into her tennis shoes and pick up her dog. Frankie, her Cairn terrier, began to prance around excitedly as soon as she saw her leash. Autumn loved the fact that her work schedule at the nursing home allowed her time to run home and take care of the dog during the day, which made up for the fact that she had to leave earlier for work than she had when she worked at the grocery store. Ever since Frankie had gone missing a couple of weeks ago, Autumn had cherished their time together more than ever.

  The small park in the middle of Asheville was beginning to look inviting now that the snow had melted and the weather had warmed up. The grocery store was visible from the northern edge of the park, and the Green River, for which the store was named, flowed through the center of it. The river's water was unusually high due to the recent snow melt. Later in the year, people would fish, kayak, and even swim in the slow flowing waters. Right now, they were far too muddy and cold to be very attractive for anyone.

  Autumn got out of the car and clipped Frankie's leash to her collar. The little dog knew the area well and quivered with excitement as her owner locked up the vehicle.

  “Do you see Alicia?” Autumn asked the dog. She looked around the parking lot but didn't see her friend’s car. Alicia was usually early, so she was surprised. She checked her phone, but didn't see a text message, or any missed calls.

  It was too chilly for her to want to stand in one spot for long, so she started walking once she got her phone out of her purse. She called her friend and could tell as soon as she answered that something was wrong. Alicia’s voice was hoarse, and she had to pause before talking to cough.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I'm so sorry,” Alicia said. “When I saw your number, I realized that I had totally forgotten about our walk. Remember that sniffle I had yesterday? Well, it got worse. Sorry, I'm not going to make it today. I haven't even gotten dressed, and I don't know if I could make it out the door without hacking my lungs out.”

  “Don't worry about it, just get yourself better,” Autumn said. “I have Frankie; we’ll be fine on our own. Call me if you need anything, okay?”

  “Well, my husband will be bringing me home some medicine once he gets out of work, so I think I'm set,” Alicia said with a chuckle. “Have a nice walk. Pet Frankie for me.”

  “I will,” Autumn said. “I hope you feel better soon.”

  “Believe me… so do I.”

  Autumn slid to the phone into her pants pocket and picked up the pace. Her worry for Alicia was tinged with concern for herself. She didn't want to get sick as well. If she did, she knew that she wouldn't be able to go into work. In fact, she should probably tell Nick that Alicia was ill. Didn't some sicknesses become contagious a few days before symptoms started showing? She didn't know; she would have to look it up when she got home. She didn't want to risk getting anyone at the nursing home sick, and since she was the cook, it was doubly important. The other cook, Stephanie, had a newborn son, and wouldn't appreciate her coming in with germs either.

  “Well, walks are healthy, right?” she said to Frankie. “Maybe some good, old-fashioned exercise will keep the sickness at bay.”

  As she walked, she realized just how important having a conversation partner was to her enjoyment of exercise. Without Alicia to talk to, she had nothing to focus on but the occasional blast of cold air, or the way her sneakers rubbed her ankles at just the wrong angle. She could talk to Frankie, but the dog wasn't exactly a good conversation partner, and besides, she didn't want to look too crazy.

  “Now I know not to waste my money on a gym membership,” she muttered. If she had to go alone, and couldn't even bring her dog, she knew that she would never be able to force herself to go and exercise. She just didn’t have the willpower.

  Halfway around her lap of the park, she noticed a small commotion by the bank of the river. A group of people was gathered around… something. Even though it was the middle of the day and many people in town had either work or school, there was still a good number of people in the park. Mothers with young children who weren't yet in school, young adults who had recently graduated, and a few elderly people who were getting their own exercise in for the day. All of them were drifting toward the growing group at the river’s edge.

  Curious, Autumn followed them. Whatever's happening can’t be good, she thought as she drew closer. Parents were pulling their kids back, and she saw a couple of people pull their cell phones out. Voices were being raised, and some of the people toward the center of the group began pushing others back.

  Autumn found herself at the edge of the crowd and had to push between people to go any further. She tightened her grip on Frankie’s leash, then slipped through a gap between two men and found herself feet away from someone lying face down in the muddy soil.

  She quickly reeled Frankie in closer. Her heart skipped a beat, and she felt her stomach clench unpleasantly as her eyes searched the person for any hint of life. She didn't see any sign of the person's chest rising and falling, and his fingertips were a disconcerting blue. The group of people were gathered around a corpse.

  “Everyone should get back,” someone said. “Don't touch the body.”

  “Someone, give him CPR,” another person shouted.

  A person pushed Autumn from behind and she stumbled forward, catching herself before she got too close to the body.

  “Be careful,” someone else said. “Watch where you’re going.”

  The scene was quickly devolving into chaos. Autumn looked around at the people on their cell phones and heard a snippet of conversation that sounded like at least one of them was talking to the police. Someone else pushed her from behind, but this time she was able to brace herself. Half the crowd seemed to want to get closer, and the other half was trying to get away.

  Keeping Frankie close, she glanced at the body one last time, preparing to push her way back through the crowd, but something caught her eye. Lying face down in the dirt, with his hair muddy and bedraggled and his clothes sodden, it would have been impossible for her to recognize anything about the body if it hadn't been for the watch. She knew that watch. Or, at least, she thought she did.

&nbs
p; “Oh, no,” she said. This wasn't the body of a stranger. Unless she was very mistaken, this was Jessie.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  * * *

  At first, the arrival of the police caused even more confusion. Once the blue and red flashing lights appeared in the parking lot, some people began to leave, until the police intercepted them and made them wait. Autumn did her best to stay out of the way, keeping Frankie close to her and on a short leash.

  She was still shocked. She wasn't completely certain that the body was Jessie's, but after seeing the watch, everything else fit. His hair looked like it would be the same color if it was dry, and he was about the same size and height. She knew that it could just be a coincidence, but her gut told her that wasn't so.

  She waited until some amount of organization had been established in the park before she found her way to a police officer and introduced herself.

  “I think I might know who he was,” she said hesitantly, nodding in the direction of the body. “I'm not sure, though. Is there someone I should talk to?”

  “Hold on,” he said. “Let me call Detective Orson over here. He'll want to speak with you.”

  Autumn had been afraid that they would ask her to identify the body in person once they got him flipped over, and she didn't know if she could handle seeing the face of a corpse, especially if it was someone that she knew. Thankfully, the police had found his wallet in a pocket, and were more curious about how she knew him than about who he was.

  She spent a long time answering all of their questions about how she had met Jessie, and how long and how well she had known him. Since she had known him personally, she was there for longer than the people who had simply stumbled upon his body. By the time she left, most of the others had already been released. She was cold, tired, and hungry.

  It wasn't until she got into the car and looked at the clock that she realized with a jolt that she was late for work. The spike of panic pushed the horror at the thought of Jessie's death to the back of her mind temporarily as she raced home to drop Frankie off and change into something presentable.

  By the time she got to the nursing home, there was only about fifteen minutes until lunch was supposed to begin. She felt a rush of relief when she realized that she could smell food sizzling away from where she stood. Someone had started making lunch without her; the nursing home wouldn’t go hungry just because she was late.

  With her panic over being late for work fading, thoughts of Jessie came flooding back. She walked into the administration office, feeling numb as she hung up her purse. She couldn't believe that she had seen a dead person, let alone someone that she knew. It wasn’t the first time, but that didn’t make it any easier.

  Is there anything I could have done? she wondered, staring at her purse where it hung on a wall hook. He had already been dead when he was found; of that much she was certain. But what had happened? What if she had indirectly affected his fate through something she had said or done?

  She had no answers, and no way to get any. She was sure that within a day or two, the local news would have all of the details; she would just have to wait until then. She knew that not knowing would drive her crazy. Her imagination would take control, and she would see Jessie dying over and over again in her mind’s eye, a different way each time.

  “Autumn?” She spun around to see Nick standing in the doorway, staring at her. “I'm glad you're here. I tried calling you when you didn't show up in time to start lunch. Emily's cooking now. What happened?”

  “Oh, Nick,” she said. “It was horrible. I went home to take Frankie for her walk at the park like I do every week, and we saw all of these people gathered around something by the river. I was curious and joined them. I shouldn’t have.” She shuddered. “It was a body, Nick.”

  “What?” Nick's expression changed from one of mild concern to one of horror. “There was a body in the park? Who was it? What happened?”

  “I have no idea what happened,” she said. “I knew him, though. He was someone I went on a coffee date with not too long ago, Jessie. I think I told you about him.”

  “They just found him by the river? You don't have any idea at all what happened?”

  “No. He was lying face down. No one there touched him. It was all so horrible. People were panicking, children were crying, and when the police showed up some people tried to leave, but the police wouldn't let them go until they answered questions. I'm sorry for not thinking to call you and for not answering my phone, and I feel so terrible about being late.”

  “Autumn, I don't want you to worry about that for a second. This was a real emergency, and something that you couldn't have predicted. Like I said, Emily is taking over lunch today. You should go back home. I'm sure we can manage something for dinner. Stephanie might even be able to come in.”

  “I think I'm okay to work,” she said. “I know it might seem odd, but I really want to be here and help people today. If I'm alone at home, I'm going to be a wreck.”

  “Suit yourself. Just let me know if anything changes. And if you want to talk about it, feel free to come find me.”

  “Thank you, Nick,” she said. “That really means a lot to me.”

  She left the office and went to the kitchen to find Emily working on the day’s meal. Lunch that day was lightly seasoned chicken breast, quinoa salad, and fresh, steamed vegetables. Dinner would be ham, mashed potatoes, and peas. One thing Autumn loved about Asheville Meadows was how varied the menus were. Even though many of the residents were restricted on what they could and couldn't eat, Nick still made it a priority to serve a variety of good food.

  “Oh, my goodness,” Emily said when she saw Autumn. “We were so worried about you. Nick said he called you, but you didn't answer. He was concerned that you had been in a car accident or something. Is everything all right?”

  “I was at the park, and some people found a body,” Autumn said. She didn't really want to talk about the event just then, but she knew that it would be in the news soon enough. “I had to stay and answer questions for the police.”

  Thankfully, Emily didn't press her for details. “How terrible. I'm glad you're okay, though. Did Nick make you come in anyway?”

  “I wanted to come in,” Autumn said. “Besides, I can't leave you all on your own for dinner. Cooking calms me down. It will be okay.”

  The young woman gave her a dubious look but didn't press the issue. Autumn made for the sink, meaning to wash her hands, but a tentative knock at the kitchen’s door made her pause. She turned to see the new resident, Westley Phillips, standing there. “Did I overhear something about a body?” he asked, his eyes sharp and curious. Autumn remembered that he was a mystery writer. Of course, this was something he would be interested in.

  Before she could answer, her uncle appeared beside the man. “A body? Is everything okay, Autumn?”

  Autumn sighed. She had been hoping to delay telling her aunt and uncle about what had happened for a little while, at least. She knew they would be worried, and they would want to hear all about it. It looked like it was too late to keep it a secret.

  “I'll meet with you after lunch and tell you about it,” she said. “You too, Mr. Phillips, if you want.”

  “A real-life mystery,” he said, his eyes sparkling. “You don't mind, do you, Albert?”

  “If Autumn says it's okay, it's fine by me,” her uncle replied. “Lunch smells great, by the way. Your aunt and I are half starved.”

  “It will be ready soon,” she said. “Though this time, you've got Emily to thank for it. She's going to make a fine cook herself one day.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  * * *

  After lunch, Autumn washed the dishes on her own, since she felt bad that Emily had been forced to take charge of the meal without warning earlier. Afterward, she took a short break to go over the menu for dinner again and make sure there wasn't anything she needed to get in the oven early, then she left to go find her aunt and uncle.

  Uncle Albert was
a war veteran who had lost part of his leg during his service. He was still very independent and got around just fine using a pair of crutches. Her aunt Lucy had suffered a stroke a couple of years before and was on a slow road to recovery. She had improved significantly since the incident itself, but still didn't have much control over the right half of her body. She was unable to speak, which frustrated her greatly. Autumn was told that she was still making progress, but she hadn't noticed much improvement for the past six months. She hoped that one day her aunt would be able to walk and talk again, but with each month that passed, she knew that the chance decreased.

  The two of them shared a room at Asheville Meadows, which had been decorated comfortably with many of the items from their old house. Autumn admired the fact that her uncle had chosen to stay with Aunt Lucy, even though he very well could have lived on his own. The two of them were dedicated to each other, and seeing their relationship made her want a similar one of her own.